Police said today that detectives know the identity of the man who shot at a police officer Wednesday in San Pedro, triggering a search that lasted more than 12 hours and brought traffic to a standstill.

Los Angeles police Lt. David McGill said officers were actively looking for the man who eluded them during an extensive search that began about 1 p.m. Wednesday and ended after 1 a.m. today. | POLICE NEWS

McGill did not release the man’s name.

“We are looking for a particular person,” McGill said. “We’ve got a lot of people working on this thing.”

The man is suspected of firing at least two bullets at a police officer who responded to a 12:45 p.m. report of a man with a gun on Santa Cruz Avenue near Gaffey Street.

Other Harbor Division officers swarmed in, surrounding an area bounded by Gaffey and Sepulveda streets, and Meyler and Cabrillo avenues to start a search.

Bandini and Holy Trinity elementary school officials locked down their campuses to protect students until dismissal.

Police SWAT officers then began a methodical search of the area, helicopters circling above.

Traffic on the Harbor (110) Freeway could not exit at Gaffey. Drivers not able to exit the freeway at earlier off-ramps were routed onto the Vincent Thomas Bridge and sent toward Long Beach.

Commenters on Dailybreeze.com described their ordeal in trying to get home.

“Wow … Caused me to be stuck in traffic for over an hour when it usually takes me 10 minutes to get home,” one reader wrote.

“They need to call it quits if they don’t have the shooter held up,” another said. “The helicopter is driving me insane after 10 hours.”

Some readers provided directions to others to help them get around the closures.

“I think I’ll stay inside for a couple of days,” one person wrote.

McGill said the shooting and search occurred in an unfortunate area, where the freeway, bridge and Gaffey Street connect. He called it a “choke point.”

The search, however, was necessary for the safety of police and the public, he said.

McGill said officers apologize for the inconvenience it caused residents, but the closures were done for safety.

“This is a bad person we are looking for who tried to kill a police officer,” he said.

A search with SWAT officers also moves slowly, McGill said.

“We did the best we could,” he said. “When dealing with a large area, you have to do it real safe. It’s a slow, methodical operation that just takes time. There’s no other way to do it to make sure everybody is safe.”